Method of producing gas.



No- 718,884. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903. J. 1?- STACEY. METHOD OF PRODUCING GAS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.4,1902.

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JOHN FRANKLIN STAOEY, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO THOMAS E. MATTHEWS, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

METHOD OF PRODUCING GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,884, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed January 4, 1902. Serial No. 88,427. (No model! To (tZZ whom it may concern.- tical tests that a volume of air may be intro- Beitknown thatl,JOHNFRANKLINSTAOEY, duced at the temperature aforesaid and by a citizen of the United States, residing at the process aforesaid varying from six to nine Nashville, in the county of Davidson, State of per cent. of the output of the gasworks, the

Tennessee, have invented certain new and variation depending upon the quality of the useful Improvements in Methods of Produccoal used-that is to say, of every one huning Gas, of which the following is a descripdred cubic feet of gas manufactured by this tion, reference being had to the accompanyprocess ninety-four to ninety-one per cent. ing drawings and to the figures of reference will have been derived from the coal and the no marked thereon. other six or nine per cent. from the air. I

My invention relates to the art of manufachave found also that by introducing air, as turing gas for heating and illuminating purabove described, the tendency to deposit poses from bituminous coal; and it consists naphthalene in the distributing-pipes is overin the hereinafter-described process by which come and that the iron oxid used for purify- 15 atmospheric air at a temperature of from 50 ing the gas is of much longer life than where Fahrenheit in winter to 120 in summer (the the gas is not mixed with air. temperature of the air being maintained con- \Vhile it is to be understood that my procsiderably above the ordinary or normal by ess is not dependent upon the use of any parthe heat radiated from the hot scrubber or ticnlar form of apparatus, I have illustrated 2o mixing-chamber, hereinafter referred to and in the drawings a form of apparatus which I illustrated by a drawing, said hot scrubber prefer to use. or mixing-chamber being located in a close In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective room) is introduced into the gas produced by View, partly broken away, showing a scrubdistillation of the coal in the ordinary and her or mixer with suitable attachments for 25 well-knownmannerundersuch circumstances carrying out my improved process; and Fig. 2 and conditions that the air and other snbshows a modified form of apparatus arranged stances produced by the distillation of the to heat the air before its introduction into the coal form a stable mixture, and the resulting stream of gas. gas, notwithstanding theincrease in quantity In the drawings, 1 is ahot scrubber or 0 due to the volume of air introduced, not only mixer, here shown as a rectangular box, but burns with more complete combustion than which may be of any desired form. This box would the unmixed gas, but the candle-power is provided with a series of perforated plates is maintained up to the standard now pre- 2 and has at one end a gas-inlet 3, leading vailing in the majority of large American from the retorts and at the other end a gas- 35 cities-to wit, up to from fifteen to sixteen outlet 4, leading to the gasometer or to furcandle-power. This result is attained by inther devices fol-purifying the gas. The plates troducing the air directly into the stream of 2 are preferably so supported in the scrubber gas as it comes from the retorts before it has or mixer that a free space is left below, their cooled below 200 to 205 Fahrenheit and belower edges extending from side to side of 0 fore it has been freed from tar and other imthe box, and in operation this space is depurities. By introducing the air at this point signed to be filled with the tar carried over in the manufacture of the gas a greater proby the gas from the retorts and caught in the portion of air can be introduced than could passage of the gas through the scrubber or be introduced at any other point in the procmixer by the perforated plates 2. To prevent 45 ess without reducing the candle-power below the tar from rising too high in the box, overthe said prevailing standard, and at the same flow-outlets 5 are preferably provided at each time a more complete and homogeneous reend of the box. The air-inlettnbe6is connectsultant product is produced, burning withed directly to the gas-inlet 3,so thatit delivers out smoke and entirely satisfactory to conair into the stream of gas before it enters the 50 sumers. I have found as the result of pracscrubber or mixer or immediately. upon its entrance. The air-inlet tube is preferably provided with a cock 7, by which the amount of air introduced is regulated, and for the purpose of regulating the amount of air a meter 8 of ordinary construction is preferably connected with the tube 6.

It should be understood that at all times a partial vacuum is maintained in the scrubber or mixer by means of an exhauster. The vacuum at the outlet will ordinarily be maintained at about two and one-half inches water-column pressure, while the Vacuum at the inlet end, by reason of the resistance of the plates 2 to the free passage of the gas, will not be more than one and one-half inches. It will usually be found desirable for the purpose of proper regulation to provide a pressureindicator 9 near the inlet end.

In case it is desired to heat the air before its introduction into the gasa burner 10 may be arranged, as shown in Fig. 2, to heat the air-inlet tube 6 for such portion of its length, depending upon thesize of the tube, as may be necessary to heat the air to the temperature desired.

The gas-inlet 3, as above stated, leads directly from the retorts. The gas which it carries should preferably be at a temperature of from 200 to 205 Fahrenheit, and as it comes directly from the retorts it is loaded to a greater or less extent with the tar or other impurities. The air introduced seems to combine with the tar and other impurities to form useful compounds, or at least to combine with the gas more readily by reason of the presence of the tar and other impurities, and the resulting mixture or combination after passing through the plates of the scrubber or mixer is a fixed gas of excellent quality, free from tendency to deposit napthalene and not of materially less heating power than coal-gas unmixed with air and with a candlepower maintained up to the standard aforesaid.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In the manufacture of gas from coal, the process which consists in the introduction into the gas as it comes from the retorts and before it has cooled below 200 to 205 Fahrenheit, and before it has been freed from tar or other impurities, of atmospheric air, in the ratio or proportion of from six parts of air to ninety-four parts of gas derived from the coal, to nine parts of air to ninety-one parts of gas derived from the coal; the variation depending upon the quality of coal used, substantially as described.

2. In the manufacture of gas from coal the process which consists in the introduction into the gas as it comes from the retort and before it has cooled below 200 to 205 Fahrenheit, and before it has been freed from tar or other impurities, of atmospheric air in the ratio or proportion of from six parts of air to ninetyfour parts of gas derived from the coal,to nine parts of air to ninety-one parts of gas derived from the coal, the mixture of gas and air being subjected to the action of a scrubber immediately upon the introduction of the air, substantially as described.

3. In the manufacture of gas from coal the process which consists in the introduction into the gas as it comes from the retort and before it has cooled below 200 to 205 Fahrenheit, and before it has been freed from tar or other impurities, of atmospheric air in the ratio or proportion of from six parts of air to ninety four parts of gas derived from the coal, to nine parts of air to ninety-one parts of gas derived from the coal, the air being heated previous to its introduction into the gas, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN FRANKLIN STACEY.

Witnesses:

W. R. CHAMBERS, W. L. COOK. 

